


Scenario 616.

by JellyLovesFaith



Category: Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Fluff, I know it looks like there's a lot of numbers but trust me there is no actual maths, IronStrange, Lots of 'what if?'s, M/M, Stephen falling in love, Stream of Consciousness, alternate universe 616 - the one we deserve, i guess?, introspective, maybe it isn't stream of consciousness idk it's hard to tag, multiverse exploration, probably too many questions sorry about that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-05-02 11:38:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14543913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JellyLovesFaith/pseuds/JellyLovesFaith
Summary: He lied. They don’t win in only one scenario out of 14,000,605. The truth is there are 8,047 scenarios where they win, where everything goes according to plan.But there’s only one scenario where everythingStephenwants goes according to plan.14,000,605 possible outcomes, 8,047 where they win and only 1 scenario where Stephen  gets what he wants.Scenario 616.





	1. Chapter 1

_“...I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire...I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it. Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools.”_ ~ William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury.

He lied of course. They don’t win in only one scenario out of 14,000,605. The multiverse isn’t that impractical. The truth is, there are a myriad of scenarios in which everything objectively goes right, where they win. 8,047 to be exact. They win, their universe corrects itself, Thanos dies, things go back to normal, everything goes according to plan.  
But out of those 8,047 there’s only one scenario where everything _Stephen_ wants goes according to plan. 

Scenario 616. It’s the one where they all think they’ve lost, where half of them die thinking Thanos won. It’s the scenario where they lose the battle only to unwittingly win the war.  
It’s also the only scenario where Tony Stark grows old with him. 

He didn’t expect that. He didn’t expect that he’d fall in love with Tony Stark. When he first met the genius billionaire he was struck by a strong sense of irritation. Stark acted like a child, and his ego was…well it was bigger than his own. Knowing his own ego was considered his most glaring fault, he could only imagine how much worse Stark’s was. But quite unexpectedly, Stark had come to save him. Yes they clashed once more and yes they were ready to tare each other’s heads apart, but underneath all the frustration Stephen felt that there was also an undeniable frisson of attraction. It was burnt inside of him fiercely every moment Stark came closer and closer to him. 

When they were finally face to face, Stephen worried that it would consume him, this sudden intensity of feelings he had never experienced before. It was distracting, maddening, and it was all because of Tony Stark. Inside the seclusion of Ebony Maw’s ship, with dark blue light encircling them, Stephen knew his heart might be in danger. 

But it was in Titan, when he was looking into 14,000,605 different scenarios that he realised just how much in danger his heart really was.  
Because what he had never anticipated was to fall in love with the man as he was looking into all the possibilities of how he could prevent the annihilation of half the universe. 

The more he saw, the deeper he fell for him. The Tony he met was acerbic, even childish, but the Tony who goes on to do his best to save the universe? That Tony is amazing, awe-inspiring. Someone who sacrifices everything, over and over again for the hope that the universe will restore itself. It’s eerily reminiscent of Stephen’s own bargaining with Dormammu. But that time, he was doing it to himself. This time, it was being done to Tony and that is unbearable. In so many of the possibilities Tony dies tragically, brutally and without hope. But in every one of them, he faces death with bravery and quiet endurance. Witnessing every anguished scream, every determined breath, every self-sacrificing act over 14,000,605 possibilities breaks something within Stephen - something he didn’t even know he had. 

In some of the scenarios, he saves Stephen. In others, Stephen saves him. In every one of them, Tony is remarkable - a beacon of hope and sheer perseverance. Stephen looks on in reverence and awe but also with a painful ache in his heart, always unable to interfere yet always subjected to witness Tony brutally dying so many times.  
It’s not normal to witness someone you have quite recently fallen for die so many times. But then again, nothing is ever normal for Stephen Strange. And the more he sees it, the more he desperately wants to go back to scenario 616.

_616._  
_After Thanos is defeated and when everyone is brought back to the land of the living, Stephen gives his final farewell to the team and is about to portal his way to the Sanctum Sanctorum._  
_But someone clutches his arm at the very last minute._  
_‘Where are you going?’ Tony asks his voice tired but happy._  
_‘Back home. Wouldn’t want to leave Wong alone for a long time. He might cut my pizza allowance.’_  
_This triggers a fit of giggles from Tony which Steepen shouldn’t find endearing. But he does anyway. He doesn’t even like the guy that much but there’s something about him that just draws Steepen in._  
_‘Yunno that wasn’t even very funny but I’m exhausted and clearly need a bit of a break. So do you. Leave your mystical threats for another day. I’m sure Wong can deal with it for a few more hours. Come celebrate with us,’ Tony says and leans a little into Stephen’s personal space whilst looking him directly in the eye._  
_It’s intoxicating and Stephen cannot really bring himself to deny the man anything. It’s odd to feel this drawn to a near stranger._  
_He nods and Tony grins. ‘Great! I know a good shawarma place. Underoos you coming?’ he yells at Peter._  
_The boy is immediately excited and so is the rest of the lot. Tony looks at him expectantly._  
_‘I already said yes,’ Stephen says but Tony leans in closer and says ‘Well, we’re kind of stuck here and well…it would be easier to portal to New York.’_  
_‘Yes, yes fine,’ Stephen mutters to cover up the fact that he’s blushing._  
_So they portal back to New York and end up eating shawarma. It’s fun. Really fun. Stephen is in between Tony and Peter and is made to feel immediately welcome. When it ends, Tony hugs him close and asks whether they can meet again._

_So they meet again. And again. And again._  
_Somewhere along the way, the meetings become dates. They both naturally fall into what others might call a relationship and before they know it, Stephen is an unofficial Avenger and there are Iron suit prototypes in the Sanctum where Tony has a makeshift lab._  
_It’s definitely a positive progression: Stephen initially thinks that Tony would want to be at his place most of the time but it turns out that the engineer is fascinated by the wonders of the Sanctum._  
_‘It’s humbling,’ he says when Stephen asks about it. ‘It reminds me that there are things that I can’t make, things that simply…_ are. _’ And Stephen can relate. He used to be skeptical about magic but now, its all around him. He doesn’t quite understand how it can be among them but he doesn’t question it. It simply_ is _, and the world is a better place because of it._  
_After the 2-year mark it’s clear that Tony has pretty much moved in and so they stop the pretense of keeping their relationship a secret (debatable if it ever even was). Stephen takes Tony to different dimensions and lives to see his lover’s mesmerised face every time he encounters something truly amazing. And whenever they are free they go on dates that span the globe - a new place every time._  
_Wong starts talking loudly before he enters any part of the mystical house where he thinks Stephen and Tony happen to be together - he had seen them engage in_ very loud _sex far too many times for one lifetime, thank you very much - and the Cloak decides its selective adoration for Stephen extends to Tony as well._

_Peter drops by regularly to do his homework, run experiments with Tony and hop dimensions with Stephen. He affectionally calls them ‘Iron Dad’ and ‘Doctor Dad’ and it warms Stephen’s heart every time he hears it. The kid is also responsible for posting pictures of the two of them on social media, much to their annoyance. But once Stephen finally gets a chance to see a few pictures of just how happy and in love they look, he convinces Tony not to activate the Spier-Man suit’s Baby Monitor Protocol as revenge. It takes a few tries, but Tony begrudgingly gives in. He always does where Stephen is concerned._

_Happy can be found frequently getting creeped out over the Sanctum’s various artifacts much to the amusement of Rhodey, who makes it a point to constantly scare him with the new magical objects he finds. Wong grumbles that they are 'not toys for anyone's amusement' but Stephen just likes the fact that some of them are getting used. They've existed for centuries and Stephen himself has only used a few of the vast amount of magical objects that the Sanctum possesses. Pepper and Christine have formed an attachment of sorts and often come by with take out for group dinners._ _Without quite knowing how, Stephen’s Sanctum actually begins to feel like a home._

_On their 5 year anniversary, Tony proposes and Stephen wishes he could trap time in that moment forever. He’s filled with euphoria and knows that this is forever. Time flies and they mature with it, but they never lose each other to villains, end-of-the-world-catastrophes, or each other’s demons. They live, they love and they grow old together. The last thing Stephen-616 sees is Tony’s wrinkled yet heart-stoppingly beautiful face as he closes his eyes for the last time. He hears the words ‘I’m coming with you’ and smiles. Even in death, they are not parted._


	2. Endgame

As 616 dissolves around him, Stephen knows without a sliver of a doubt that in 616, his life is perfect.

And suddenly, a desperate need to make this happen, to ensure without any discrepancy that this _will_ happen takes over Stephen to the point of overwhelming him. It would have been only seconds in real time, but in his astral form, Stephen has lived a life so amazing that everything else pales in comparison. As he fast-forwards through all the remaining scenarios, he knows a few things for certain:  
He knows there are other ways he could bring about the defeat of Thanos and the restoration of balance within the Universe.  
There are 8,046 other ways of bringing about that conclusion.  
But there is only one he wants to see through to its finality.  


8,046 eventualities where they succeed, but in only 2,008 of them do they interact past the threat of Thanos. And in only 1 of them do they actually fall in love - where they have a permanent future together. Where their relationship works and they last. In all others, their friendship or relationship falls apart for various reasons.  
It’s like time itself is telling him not choose 616. 

1 in 14,000,605 is a warning. It’s a sign that they don’t work, that they are not meant to work. It’s a clear, unmistakable signal that they are not right for each other.  
Because if they were, shouldn’t there be more possibilities where they make it work? 

But Stephen has never been one to balk at insurmountable odds. And for the life of him, he cannot bring himself to set aside the possibility of 616. Because they do have a chance in 616, a shot at happiness together. Why shouldn’t he take it?

Barring any actions on Tony’s part that may jeopardise everything - which arguably could happen in any one of the other 8,046 possibilities - they would win. And in this moment, that was the most important thing. Winning. And if the road to winning eventually lead to the two of them being in love, why shouldn’t he take that road?

Words he had read in the past but forgotten the source of suddenly flittered into his mind.  
_’Because no battle is ever won… They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools.’_  
He knew this was true. Of course it was. He had only looked into the eventualities involving Thanos. Even if they defeated him, there is no guarantee that they’ll survive another threat comparable or granter than Thanos.

Even if they win, how long will their victory last? He dealt with mystical threats every day and in each one of them, he would have had a good chance of dying. He was sure the same applied to Tony. They were who they are: men tasked with the burden of carrying the weight of so much power and so much responsibility on their shoulders.  
But in 616 they somehow managed to beat all the odds. They fought threats together, worked so well along side each other. They fell in love with each other, married and grew old together.

Is he interfering too much with the course of time? He doesn't know the answer to that. Ever since the Ancient One said she had looked into the future in order to find ways to extend her death, he was left wondering whether he would do the same. He used to think it as a tragic way to lead one’s life - knowing specifically when it was going to end and thus doing everything to avoid it. He rather liked the spontaneity of not knowing the end of his time. He’d lived through a near death once and it had taught him to cherish the little time he had - to not extend, to not bother looking beyond it to try to stop it from happening. Live in the here, the now, and be grateful that he had been given a second chance.

But he is now interfering with the natural course of events. Because the Stephen of a few minutes ago would have never given up the precious time stone to save someone else’s life. He said as much. And giving up the time stone and leaving Tony without a clear cut plan of action is still an enormous risk. He can control what he does, but he cannot control Tony’s actions.

And that was the crux of it wasn’t it?  
Because what if he was wrong?

That’s the thing with time and the multiverse. It was too nebulous. One small deviation along the way may result in a million more possibilities where nothing went according to plan. Where they both die for nothing, where they lose anyway, where Thanos wins even if he’s not supposed to. Nothing is guaranteed, nothing is set in stone. Is it worth it? Is it worth the gamble?

Why is he even questioning this? Setting motion 616 is just as much of a risk as following through with any of the other 8,046 possibilities. But if he is wrong? What if Stephen and Tony are not meant to be together? 1 chance in 14,000,605 seems ridiculous. They are not meant to work.

But what if they do?  
Because the more he thought about it, the more 616 felt like the inevitability rather than the exception.  
It would be his most selfish decision, an act of intense personal wish-fulfillment, but he cannot bring himself to regret choosing it. He knows it isn't all about him. He swore to _never_ make it all about him. Not after Dormammu, not after Hong Kong. Yet after all of that progress, isn't he just falling back on old habits?

616 is all of his hopes and desires bundled up into one neat future. Yet they are _his _hopes and desires. What if Tony doesn’t feel the same?  
He knows that in 616 Tony does, but what if this Tony actively rebels against it? What if this Tony instinctively feels something is wrong with the choice Stephen is about to make? Is he taking Tony’s free will away from him?__

He doesn't know the answers to these questions - at least not yet. All he knows is that 616 is the future he wants - the future he needs. The future he will die to have.  
And if that future was the only one in over 14 million, it still did not matter. He’ll make it work.  
_They’ll_ make it work.

And with that firm decision, Stephen finally decides to come out of his astral form. When he opens his eyes, all he can see is Tony. His eyes are worried yet his hands are tender as he holds Stephen through his tremors. So many tremors - as if all the deaths he witnessed, all the sounds of bloodcurdling screams that he endured across millions of possibilities are forcing themselves out of him. Were he with anyone else, it would feel far too much.

But he isn’t with anyone else. He’s with Tony. It’s Tony hands that are holding him. It’s Tony’s voice that quietly whispers ‘Are you ok?’  
It’s Tony, all around him.  
It’s madness. They are stuck on a planet far away from Earth, about to face a cosmic overlord hell-bent on destroying half the universe and he’s about to die. But all he can think of is Tony.  
_Tony._  
Everywhere, all-encompassing, consuming him. _So this is what it’s like to fall so irrevocably in love with one person for there rest of your life._

In that moment, with Tony’s arms around him, Stephen knows he has made the right decision. The two of them may only have 1 chance in 14,000,605 to succeed, fall in love, marry, fight enemies and grow old together. But one chance is all they will need. And they will make it work.

They are in the endgame now.  
616 is endgame. _They_ are endgame.  
Stephen will ensure it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this! It's my first ever fic so I hope it was okay :)

**Author's Note:**

> Earth-616 is the main continuity where most of the comics take place. 
> 
> 2008 + 2010 + 2013 + 2016 = 8,047. (I thought it was kinda neat to make the number of times they succeed the combine total of the years the Iron Man 1-3 and Doctor Strange movies were released).


End file.
